Line Between Reality
by DunkinDonutsHobo
Summary: Chihiro, most successful writer of her time, head of her own publishing corporation, and just turned 20, vowed to forget the Spirit World and most of all Haku. But when she finally does forget, What happens when someone brings her back to remember it all?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One  
**

Chihiro sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. She sat at large desk with piles of books precariously stacked up higher than her. She crossed her arms over the little desk space she had and laid her head down.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSS!" came the voice of a young man walking into the office. She shrunk further down into her arms as she heard the not so very welcome sentiment. He immediately back-tracked as soon as he saw his employer.

"Umm...Boss?" he asked questioningly, although the only sound that came from the said boss was a very un-ladylike grunt coming from behind the books.

"Happy Birthday?" He said a little uncertainly. Checking the calendar behind the desk for reassurance.

"I heard you the first time Ryou." Chihiro sighed as she lifter her head a little to see what she could of the man in between the piled up books.

"So whats up with you cranky?" he asked sarcastically breaking away from their boss-employee relationship. Chihiro smiled within her arms her mind wandering to when they first met. He was a Photography major. She was a English major, doubling in Photography and Mythology.

"I'm one year older." She said with a sigh, she could mentally see Ryou shrug his shouldars and roll his eyes.

"Your finally entering your golden years and your sighing? Being twenty isn't bad at all! See, now people usually worry when they're thirty! You've got a good ten years before that!" He said happily.

Chihiro snapped her head up from the desk as if ready to bite his head off.

"You don't understand..." She said softly. Her mind already wandering to childhood memories. The only ones she could remember. She was twenty already. Ten years had passed since that event she so wished she could remember clearly. The one thing that stuck with her was the promise that one boy made. The one that was never settled. Everything else was a blur.

There was no way he could understand. She wasn't even really sure what was so wrong with her now. She was already one year older. She was no longer a child. A year more she had endured of the unfulfilled promise. Chihiro sighed thinking her own promise she made to herself. She had promised herself as soon as she turned twenty, she would stop waiting. She would stop waiting for the boy who never came.

"Looks like I'm just going to have to accept it." She said to herself softly. Haku was never going to come. She tugged on the purple hair band that tied back her hair. This was the only thing she had to remember her entire time there. It was the thing that kept her going, it was the thing that kept her sane, it was the thing that made her realize it was all real. And it was the thing that she now silently put in her bottom desk drawer. And she instantly felt relieved.

"What I understand is that your only about the most successful writer at the age of twenty, official as of today, and even though your a college drop out, you've become successful enough to retire now and still support five kids throughout college." He said as if talking to someone who didn't know two plus two equals four.

Chihiro said nothing, she sat back in her chair and looked out the window right behind her desk, turning away from the young man, who was really the same age she was.

"Come on Sen, you know if somethings bothering you can tell me."

Sen. That was her name back then too. He was the only one who knew about her nickname, even if he had no idea where it had came from. They had known each other since freshmen year of college and she took him a long for the ride when she dropped out.

She and Ryou spent every hour of the day after they dropped out writing and illustrating Chihiro's books. Chihiro's books were the Harry Potter of their time. To say they were successful would be an understatement. The books in the series were about a girl and her parents who get stranded in the spirit world. Chihiro smiled thinking about her inspiration for the story, the one no one would believe.

"I've lost my inspiration Ryou." Chihiro said still looking through the window showing the sleepy town she now lived in. She then turned around to look at him. Her inspiration was gone. She wasn't even sure if it was real anymore. She had no proof. There was nothing besides the hair band to prove to her that it was even real, and even then her memory was foggy.

"Then go back and find it." He said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing she could do. She looked up at him questioningly.

"Okay okay, go back to where you thought it all up!" he said.

'_I didn't think it all up! It's real!_' was what one part of her wanted to say. Although, now she wasn't so sure.

"I have to go back to my parents house, they're throwing some kind of party today." She said in defeat and slouched back down in her seat.

"Yeah, they called me up this morning. They want me to escort you over." He said with chuckle. My eyebrow raised. For years her parents had been trying to get them together, and her definite refusals fell on their deaf ears. It's not like they weren't friends, its just that they weren't like that.

Chihiro sighed for one last time before getting out of her chair and fishing around in her pocket for her keys, "Come on. We might as well get going. Bring your camera, there are some nice places to take pictures for our next book around my house."

**Two Hours Later**

Chihiro watched the scenery fly by her from the passenger seat of Ryou's car. They were on their way to Chihiro's house for the party. The whole way they Chihiro fidgeted and became more anxious the closer they came to the place where it all happened. She could feel Ryou's eyes look at her worriedly.

"You can sleep if you want to. I'll wake you up when we get there." He said reassuringly.

"Yeah..." She said wanting nothing more than to be relieved of her anxiety.

* * *

"Boss?" She felt someone shaking her slightly. 

"Boss wake up." She opened her eyes slowly getting up and stretching her arms. It wasn't until she had completely finished yawning that she realized her surrounding. This was not her house.

"Ummm...I think we're lost." Chihiro gave him an incredulous look. Lost? How could they be lost? Surely he knows the way.

"What do you mean we're lost?" She said still not comprehending what he meant. They've lived in the same town throughout high school and college.

"Fine, we're not lost, We're in an area which I have not known existed in our town until today, and area in which my car decided to run out of gas." He said sarcastically and pointing to the now lit up E indicating no feul.

"Well I guess it can't be helped." Chihiro said getting out of the car. She knew she was in some sort of forest. But it wasn't until she saw a headstone that made her tense and stopped her movement. It was a rounded headstone that had some sort of face on the front of it. Ryou caught her view and started looking at it too.

"Odd looking thing isn't it." He said, bending down closer to examine it, then taking the camera from around his neck and snapping a picture of it. The light from the camera which made Chihiro realize her foolishness. So what? It was just a headstone.

"Yeah, Ryou, Lets head a little down this way, I think I know this place." Chihiro said, the blood coursing throughout her entire body, she restrained herself from running. Of course she knew this place. This is where it all began. This place was the inspiration for her stories. This place was her a part of her.

"Boss?" He said trailing after her down the path. They came upon more head stones, until they reached the one that ended the way, but started the tunnel.

"Whoa! Who knew something like this could be here!" Ryou said clearly amazed, although Chihiro just felt a sort of dread. This was the place. Stepping through this tunnel would help her find out whether everything had just been a dream. Her parents considered it a dream. They never spoke of the time of when they first came to this town. They chose to be ignorant of what had happened to them.

"Come on, let's go!" Ryou said clearly excited, already starting to head through the tunnel.

"Ryou, wait. Come on, lets start walking to a gas station." She said taking a couple steps back, hoping he would follow. He just kept on walking deeper and deeper into the tunnel.

"Come on Boss! Come on!" She heard his voice echo from the tunnel, he was already too far into it to see him clearly.

"Ryou! Lets go back!" Chihiro shouted down the tunnel hoping her voice would carry.

"Oh my god. Boss! You won't believe whats over here!" She heard him shout from the end.

"Dammit Ryou!" She shouted, taking a step forward into the tunnel, but not no more. She felt the wind slightly pull her in. 'Just like last time.' she thought to herself. She didn't want to go. She knew things would only end badly. She knew what was on the other side of this tunnel. Or she used to know at least.

Chihiro sighed to herself. She was already twenty years old and holding on to such a stupid dream. There was no spirit world. Those were only the stories she wrote to entertain her own imagination. Or at least thats what her shrink would say.

For years she had pictured this day, waiting to come back to this place. Waiting to be welcomed back into loving arms. She was so tired of dreaming.

Chihiro walked down the rest of the tunnel looking for Ryou who was probably snapping away at his camera at the scenery.

"Ryou?" She called out stepping onto the platform. He was no where to be seen. She shrugged and walked down farther until she reached the breezy glade. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining bright making the place look almost heavenly.

"Ryou!" She called out hearing her own voice echo throughout the plain. She took in everything, trying to spot her stupid best friend and employee.

"Chihiro! This way!" she heard him shout all the way from the cluster of restaurants across the plain. It was a long walk over the field. 'How did he get there that fast?' Chihiro thought to herself. She saw him from afar turn away from her and keep walking.

"Ryou wait!" She tried shouting out to him, but he appeared not to have heard her. She started running towards him across the field until she crossed the stones that marked the beginning of the steps.

When she got up the steps Ryou was no where to be found. "Ryou! This isn't funny. We're going to be so late!" She shouted to her surroundings, hearing nothing reply to her. She walked farther down. Her mind going crazy. Remembering things she had wanted to forget altogether this morning. But just because the place was real, doesn't mean the people were. Chihiro felt stupid for almost believing in her stories. She gave her head a good shake then resumed walking.

"Boss! It's a bathhouse! Look how big it is! I bet it's amazing inside!" She heard saw Ryou standing before the doors of the bathhouse. She ran to catch up with him, her body exhausted from chasing after him. She crouched down to give her legs a rest and take a deep breath.

"You better have a good reason for dragging us all the way here." She growled out, trying to get her annoyance visible on her face through her out-of-breathness.

"Boss! It's just like your stories! This whole entire place! Even down to the headstones out front!" He said getting carried away with himself.

"Oh, so you've noticed..." she said slowly.

Ryou pushed open the large double doors leading into the bathhouse. Something felt off though. Those doors were larger than them by twice their height, yet he was able to just push them open with ease. But then again, its not like this was the first time something like this happened around Ryou. He was just one of those people who you might consider...freaky? Well something like that. He was just never a normal boy. Which was probably why we got a long so well.

She knew what it was like to not be accepted. Back when she was ten and just entering her new school. She wasn't popular with the other kids there. She used to tell everyone about her time spent in the spirit world, which probably why she didn't fit in. Then she met Ryou. He was the only other person besides herself who actually believed her and listened to her stories.

"Ryou. Come on. Lets just go." She said finally getting up, but it was too he, already slipped through the door without her realizing it.

"Ryou. YOU ARE SO FIRED." She shouted to the door, She knew he could hear her. Her voice echoed off every wall in the building.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she walked into the building. It was dead quiet, almost eerie in a way. The building was extravagant and abandoned. Though it didn't look abandoned. Everything looked polished as if brand new or just recently cleaned. The floors look shiny clean and the walls paint looked as if it wasn't any older than a year.

Ryou was still no where in site.

She walked down toward the stairs that lead up to the foreman's stand. She remembered when none of the departments would let her in because of her smell.

She walked along the hall looking over the balcony to the baths below. It made her remember when her and someone, Someone she can't remember so surely, cleaned the largest one.

She remembered a man with six arms and shriveled up legs.

She remembered puffs of soot coming to life.

She remembered an over-sized child.

She remembered her parents turning into pigs.

And most of all she remembered a dragon.

Being here made her remember all those things which people called her crazy for even thinking. It made her remember all the kids from school calling her crazy. It made her remember thing that her parents made her go to a shrink for believing. Chihiro balled her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palm.

"This isn't real." She whispered to herself. She said. She was standing on the balcony bridge suspended in the center of the bathhouse.

"This isn't real." She said louder to herself. Her head was being flooded with images she wasn't even sure was real. People that she knew couldn't be real! Things that could never happen in real life exploded in her mind.

She felt like people were watching her. She hastily turned around to look behind her. No one was anywhere. This place was completely deserted. Except for Ryou who was probably wandering around somewhere.

She could hear voices. So many voices all speaking at once, although no one was there. She could hear her heart pounding as if running a marathon. The voices grew louder and she could hear her name being called out in various places.

"Sen!" She heard from behind her. She whipped around. Nothing but air was there.

"Sen!" She heard coming from the baths below. No one was there.

"Sen!" She heard coming from her right.

She pulled her hands tight over her ears, drowning out the voices with her own screaming. She didn't know how long she was screaming, but when she finally ran out of air all was quiet again.

"RYOU!" She screamed for, but he was nowhere to be found.

She heard whispers all around her. It was almost worse than the voices.

"Someone get Master Haku!" She heard from all around her along with more hushed whispers.

"Sen!" She heard all over again.

She dropped to the floor and squeezed her knees to her chest and hid her face in them once again covering her ears. She could still hear them muffled. She started screaming again.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD." She screamed to herself, clutching at her head.

"Chihiro! Chihiro!" Only then did she notice that Ryou was shaking her with worried eyes.

"Ryou. Please. We have to leave. WE HAVE TO LEAVE." She shouted at him. Her eyes searched the entire place for the people who were calling to her. She looked like a terrified animal. Her eyes gone wild. Ryou bent down to get face level with her. He held her close to his chest while patting her head down.

"But...didn't you want to come here? Wasn't this your inspiration?" He questioned softly. She said nothing but wretched out of his reach.

"None of it's real. It took me ten years to figure it out. But I finally understand. NONE OF THIS WAS EVER REAL." She shouted while getting back up to her feet.

"All those years. ALL THOSE YEARS. ALL THE TIME I WAS HOPING FOR SOMETHING THAT WAS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. RYOU! LOOK AT THIS PLACE! NO ONES HERE." She shouted with all her might. Her voice echoing off the walls. He looked at her with_ that_ look. He looked at her with _that_ look of pity. The look she had grown so accustomed to when she was younger and people thought she was mentally unstable.

"Sen..." Ryou whispered.

"NO. JUST NO. DON'T CALL ME THAT. I JUST MADE THAT UP. I MADE ALL THIS UP." She shouted again using her whole body to shout with.

"HAKU WAS NEVER REAL." She had finally said it. She felt the last bit of what she was holding on to leave her. She felt her body heaving after all the shouting and screaming. She leaned back on the balcony rail to rest.

Then it broke.

"SEN!" She heard Ryou shout from above her. She felt the wind making her hair fly into her face. She felt the rush of adrenaline before her certain death course through her body.

"Haku..." she whispered closing her eyes waiting for the impact of her fall.

* * *

**Please review! It would really help me write more knowing what people think :)**

**Grammar/Spelling errors? Please tell me!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Chihiro woke with a start. Her breathing hard, her eyes held terror. They were eyes that Ryou had never seen in her before. He took his eyes off the road to glance at her for a second.

"Boss?" He looked over worriedly. Then Chihiro looked at him, almost startled, as if he hadn't been there the whole time. She looked around her, out the window, and in the back of the car. Nothing. Nothing at all. Just a dream. No… Not a dream. It was a nightmare. And the worst part was that remembered every part of it.

"You feeling okay?" Ryou asked, taking a glance at her every couple minutes.

"Y-Yeah…" She said hesitantly. She could still feel her heart beating fast, The adrenaline still coursing through her, The feel of people watching her. It didn't feel like a dream. It felt real. She could still feel the tingle in her fingertips. Her hair still standing on ends.

It would make sense though she thought. The only thing she didn't understand was why Ryou was there. She didn't understand why Ryou was the one to guide her to that place. She didn't understand why both of them really did smell like the grassy fields and dusty bathhouse from her dream. '_Now you're just being paranoid._' She thought to herself.

"You seem a little out of it." He said only getting silence as a response.

"So…wanna talk about it?" He asked. Chihiro turned herself toward the window watching the scenery go by.

She turned to face him, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Nightmare, just a nightmare." He made no reaction to her response. He just went back to looking at the road. He seemed to have tensed for a minute, or she could have just been imagining that. Something sharp was poking into her back. Chihiro repositioned herself on the seat, but it still stabbed her lightly, so she grabbed behind her and tried plucking it out.

"Go back to sleep." He said after a few moments of silence, but it went to deaf ears because Chihiro had found something that brought back memories. She had found something that made her doubt that it was just a nightmare.

Between her fingers was a deep red painted wood chip. This little shard, She knew where it had came from. It was the color of the bathhouse. It was color of its walls. It was the color of the broken balcony. It was the one that she had broken.

'_Who exactly is Ryou?' _she thought. The more and more she thought about it, the more she didn't' know. Really, they've only known each other…two years? A little less that that actually. Chihiro took a hasty glance at Ryou then back out the window and repeated this action every couple minutes until she drifted back to sleep again.

**Hour Later:**

"Chihiro." The voice called out to her, someone was shaking her.

"Chihiro!" The voice slightly louder, someone was shaking her harder.

"Come on Chihiro!" The voice sounded slightly annoyed, someone flicked her head.

'_Ouch.'_ Chihiro thought, but the thought alone didn't seem to satisfy the sting.

"Ouch." She said out loud, gauging whether or not saying it out loud had any affect at all.

"Did you have to do that? Your flicks are painful." She said rubbing over the spot,

"We're here." He said. Relaxing back into his chair and whistling some kind of song that had the same annoying abilities as the "I Know a Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves!" Chihiro rubbed her neck trying to ease away all the kinks. All her earlier worries were gone. Not that she could remember much of them anyway. All she had with her was an insignificant little red shard of wood, but a lingering feeling of suspicion still lay around Ryou.

Honestly, she didn't know what the hell she was thinking. She shook her head, The wood was probably from…her chair back at the office…maybe.

No.

It is.

It has to be?

She sighed, "Lets go then, they're going to think we're doing something inappropriate if we stay parked outside their house any longer."

"Oh?" Ryou said, smirk in place, eyebrow up.

"Ha. You're funny." she said in monotone.

"I've been told that." He said while opening the door, which to Chihiro rolled her eyes.

"Chihiro!! Chihiro! I'm so glad you're back!!" She could hear her mom shout from across the street.

"Mom…" Chihiro went over to hug her mother.

"How long has it been! You hardly ever come home!"

"I'm sorry, I've just been so busy." She heard herself say, but even to her ears it sounded off.

"Ryou! My, my, my, have you been working out?"

"Mom!" Chihiro exclaimed appalled.

"What?"

Chihiro just sighed and sneaked a glance at Ryou. Truth be told she had only known him for about two years, but during those two years he has gotten….well muscular? When she first met him, he was one of those gangly boys, the ones that never truly got out of their awkward stage. She had barely noticed the extreme change…until now?

Actually…she never recalled him having them at all. Which include this morning at the office. He was still that little awkward cute boy this morning…right?

'_Chihiro, You're going crazy._' She thought to herself.

"So lets go in and celebrate everyone!" Her mom said.

The day went fast. She can't even remember what had happened that day. She remembered her mother ushering them into the house to greet her father. She remember seeing Ryou through a whole different light. She remembered eating the biggest meal she ever tried to force down. Which then brought her to her old room. Ryou was sleeping in the room just across the hall.

The entire day she felt haunted by her dream. She didn't realize how much it bothered her until she was alone. And now, it was just overbearing.

Her mind made up. She got out of bed and tiptoed to the door. Ryou kept his door open. She walked slow, calculated steps to the stairs. She made it to the door. From there she broke out into a run to her car. Getting her hand on the handle she pulled it open and sat in.

Chihiro groaned when she realized for one, she didn't have her keys. Two, she was wearing her pajama pants.

"God. Why are you doing this?? Did I do something bad? Do I not brush my teeth enough?!" Chihiro muffled her shout through her arms.

"Well…You do have particularly bad morning breath, but I don't think he discriminates against smelly people." The voice from the window made her jump. She looked up from her arms to see Ryou leaning in the window.

"Gee. That makes me feel a lot better." She said.

"I try my best boss." He said with a cheeky smile.

"So where were you going so late at night?" He asked walking around the car to the passenger side.

"I need to find it." She said.

"And this 'it' of which you speak of is?"

"My inspiration."

"Looks like you're gonna need these." Ryou sighed tossing the keys over to her.

She put the keys in the ignition and drive in silence. Contemplating what she was even doing.

"I don't get you. You say you want to find it. But my ears hear different." Ryou said after a few moments of silence. Chihiro didn't say anything at first.

"I mean what I said. I've lost it. I'm not even sure where I really found it. Well…no. I do know, but now I can't remember anything about it…" she said quietly.

"All I know is what I wrote in my books. It's hard to explain. It's weird." She finished off lamely.

Ryou had nothing to say. Or maybe he did, but knew it wouldn't change anything. They drove the rest of the way in silence. Her grip on the wheel tightened as they neared their destination. She found the turnoff from the road and took it. She sped past the statues randomly placed along the path. Their empty eyes seemed to burn through her soul.

Then she saw the tunnel and slowed the car down to a stop. She got out of the car stepped close to it. It looked like a portal into another world with the moonlight shining down on it. But the only thing it reminded her of was her books and what she wrote about it. But she felt something. She felt a sense of familiar-ness.

"It's strange. For your heart to remember something your mind cannot." She said.

"Then you haven't truly forgotten, the heart never forgets.." Ryou said walking up to her.

"Maybe…" She said, taking her firsts steps back into her past.


	3. Chapter 3

The glade was silent, all except the quiet rustling of tall grass. Chihiro started out to the top of the hill standing there and looking towards the cluster of restaurants. She unclenched her hands and let them fall limp to her sides. It was so eerily beautiful there. The moon was shining bright, its light reflected off the grass when the wind blew it by. She closed her eyes and just listened to the sound.

She thought hard about the past, eyes still closed, hearing his footsteps come up next to her.

"I got lost here." She said, "I was so scared."

Ryou said nothing.

"Then there was a boy. He…helped me."

Ryou still said nothing.

"We made a promise I think…" She continued.

"And I haven't seen him since."

"I can't remember anymore..." She said, clutching the chip of wood she found when she woke up.

"I, I don't even know if any of it was real or not, maybe I just was so into my own books, that I made them my own memories." She said softly to the man standing next to her.

"Sen…" Ryou said just as soft.

"Don't call me that."

She walked down the hill, wandering into the valley below. She slowly made her way into the cluster of restaurants. She could hear her feet drag across the dirt, she was exhausted. The only thing driving her was her sheer desperation.

It was dark. None of the lights were on. It really did seem like just any old abandoned park. Ryou walked next to her, not saying a word.

Everything was just the way she described it in her books. The colorful restaurants, the narrow alleys, the bridge leading into the elaborate bathhouse, every little detail was the same. It was enchanting.

"Chihiro…you don't have to do this." Ryou said, holding her hand in a brotherly way. She thought it was sort of strange. She was his boss after all, but he also was her best friend. He was part of her family.

"I just want to try something." She said vaguely, walking through the doors.

It was dark, the only light coming from the dawning sky. Everything was quiet. She could only hear their foot steps as they went deeper into the bathhouse. Chihiro already knew what she wanted to do. She stepped out in the bridge suspended in the middle of the bathhouse and let her hand drift over the edge of the wooden rail.

Chihiro let out a soft gasp. The wood was chipped and broken in various places, but it seemed as if someone had tried to glue it back together. She gripped the piece of wood she had found earlier in the car and made her decision.

She turned to Ryou, "This is going to be one of the stupidest things I've ever done."

He just gave her a confused look and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure how you can top some of the things you've done since college." He sighed, "Like remember how we dropped out of college? Not the greatest way to leave."

"It worked out didn't it?" She retorted, for a minute, feeling slightly like herself again.

"Well what's you stupid idea then?"

"Watch." She said, climbing up onto the wooden rail. She sat on it, dangling her legs.

"Chihiro, stop it." Ryou said, eying her warily.

"My dream…wasn't a dream, was it Ryou?" She said, her eyes searching his, trying to find a fault in them.

"Yes it was, everyone has dreams of falling off of things! You probably just have a fear of heights. Just get off of there before you fall idiot." He said nervously, she still hadn't stopped dangling her legs off the edge.

Chihiro stopped dangling her legs as soon as he said that, she turned her head around to see him, and smiled.

"Ryou?" She called.

"Come on, let's just go." He said, already walking towards the doors.

"I never told you about my dream." She said as she pushed herself off the edge.

"CHIHIRO DON'T!"

She felt the wind whipping her hair around her face, she felt the thud of her heart beating disorderly, she felt the adrenaline, she felt real. It was only then, as she dropped past each floor, that the fear hit her.

But she closed her eyes. Enjoying the ride. She could hear Ryou screaming her name from above. 'Such a long fall…' she mused in her heard. She didn't know whether it was the dream, the feeling of falling, or just her books, but she remembered his name and it was all she cared about.

"Haku," She whispered.

* * *

Chihiro awoke to the sound of yelling. 

"Ugh…" she groaned as she sat up listening to all the racket.

There seemed to be so much noise coming outside. It was then when it hit her.

"Where that hell am I?" She asked out loud, instantly feeling stupid realizing she was all alone.

She was lying in a beautiful jade colored room. Everything was dark wood and jade green stone. The bed alone was extravagant, including the twenty plus pillows and the emerald coverlet. It looked expensive. She immediately felt uncomfortable. Wherever she was, who ever was yelling out side was giving her a headache. Her head still felt heavy with sleep as she got out of bed. She could sort of make out what they were saying through the wooden doors, but she could definitely hear how loud it was.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP HER SAFE! AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!" She heard a man's voice yelling, it sounded off with a beast like growl. He was angry. She could feel it. It was like she could feel his rage, like it gave off waves. It made her uneasy.

"You don't know what it was like for her back there! She doesn't belong in that world!" She heard Ryou try to reason, never once raising his voice. Even though in an argument, he seemed to be respectful, maybe even a little fearful. Chihiro pressed her ear closer to the door in hopes of hearing more. 'Ryou? What's Ryou doing here?' She thought, 'Are they talking about me?'

"SHE CAN'T BE HERE." The angry voice yelled again. Chihiro shook, his rage was just too much. She could feel it overwhelming her. She felt like they were her own feelings, but she knew they were his. It made her uncomfortable.

"Why! Why can't she be here?!" Ryou persisted

"This world is too dangerous for a human!" Chihiro put her arms around herself, the rage was too much. She felt like it was suffocating her. 'Why is this happening?!' she thought in distress.

"Master Haku, please reconsider this, her spirit was dying. I had to do something!" She heard Ryou plead.

"Haku?" she whispered, She had to know. She had to. She silently twisted the knob and opened the door a peek, just enough to see with one eye. The man with angry voice was the person she got a good look at. He looked to be about her age, his eyes were such a deep green, strong jaw, long dark green hair. She couldn't keep her eyes off him. He looked so familiar, yet so different at the same time. He looked like a distant memory.

"No! Take her back now." Haku said, trying to bring down his voice, failing slightly. She could still feel his anger and it overwhelmed her again. She had to hold herself to stop shaking, her breaths coming out as pants. She saw him turn around and begin to start walking away. 'Don't go!' she thought desperately. He head felt like it was exploding with his anger.

"Don't you want her here? Don't you care for her?" she heard Ryou whisper. She saw Haku whip around, his hair was floating around his face like tendrils of snakes. His beautiful face had changed into something vicious.

"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" She heard him yell as he disappeared from her sight, she didn't even see him move, he was just gone. Then she heard a thud against the wall. She couldn't breathe. The rage was choking her. It was physically hurting her. She couldn't take it anymore.

Chihiro burst out of the room, falling on her hands and knees, then leaned against the wall of the hallway. Her hand clutching at her throat, trying to breath, her heard felt like exploding.

Ryou was pinned up against the wall with Haku holding him up there, He looked frightening

"H-Haku…" She managed to squeeze out, shakily getting to her feet. He hadn't noticed her. His rage had consumed him. He looked like a wild animal. But Ryou had noticed her, he was struggling against Haku's hold. She slowly made her way over to them. She needed him to stop. His anger was hurting her.

She came up behind Haku, and without thinking, wrapped her arms around his torso. "Haku…stop." She choked out. She felt him tense, then felt him realize who it was. He was still angry, she could feel it.

"Put…Ryou…down…" She breathed with difficulty, her vision becoming hazy. Haku released his grip on Ryou, sending his to the ground, then swiftly turned around to face her, taking a step back to see her.

"Chihiro?" He asked, his eyes looked dazed, as if he were trying to look through an illusion.

She nodded, Her head was still pounding with his emotions, a pained expression flashed across her face as she clutched to her head, "Don't be mad at Ryou." She said with her eyes clutched tight, "It hurts." She whispered, head dizzy, suffocating, as she felt her self sway a little and let her legs give out.

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Review please! 


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